Axel ran through the corridors in a flash. She never wanted to spit lie and relinquish the chance to be with Melanie during lunchtime, but she had no choice. She needed to see what the student council and the faculty were discussing consistently those previous weeks. She noticed that the strange meetings started when Melanie received counselling from Ms. Marfori, and if her hunch was correct, the subject of matter must have something to do with her beloved.

"I must succeed in figuring out what they're talking about Melanie," thought Axel. "I can't just sit still and wait for them to brew their plans about her."

Axel moved her body like a silk, swiftly gliding to all pillars and posts. She stuck her tongue to the side of her mouth and rolled towards the space behind the moving food cart. She simply fished out bread from the trays and shoved it into her mouth, gazing at the surroundings.

"No one's here," she mumbled. "Adi told me their meeting's gonna start at 11." She glanced at her wristwatch. "And I'm three minutes late." She hissed. "If only Adi and Tamonji were not that loyal to the University, they must have already given me the contents of their meeting without me doing an extra fucking mile for that."

Axel doubled her pace than before and ran towards the halls in a stooping stance. Her steps were soft as a cotton, quietly making their way towards the last room in the corridor. She then glanced around, searching for the presence of some security guarding the conference room.

She raised her eyebrow and said, "This is fucking creepy, man." Axel removed her hands to the knobs of the two giant wooden doors and looked around. "The guards had one job!" She gritted her teeth, "and they obviously failed to do it. Where the heck are they? Usually, they'll drag the shit out of me like my previous attempts. Did they grow tired of me?"

Axel shook her head and focused on her main goal. "Whatever. It's much better they're not here to foil my plans again." She pressed her ear to the door, then turned the doorknob, hoping it would budge and grant her access. "I'll gladly listen to their so-called private meeti—"

Axel was not able to finish her sentence when the door suddenly opened. Due to the impact, her leaning body lost balance, but before she could kiss the ground, a group of people pushed her to the side and dashed by her sight in a blur.

She clutched her head. "What the heck was that?" She turned to the long corridor but there were no signs of life in there—not even shadows. She grunted and sprung to her feet.

"Back to the track..." she whispered, peeking her head through the gap of the ajar door. However, the next scene glued her on the spot. Her eyes dilated in shock, and her mouth stretched open, unconsciously moving her hand to the handle of her katana. She then propelled the door away from her body and stormed into the room. Blood permeated in the air and its rusty smell instantly filled her nostrils. Her vision saw nothing but pools of reds everywhere—each shade from the student council and the school faculty's lifeless bodies.

"Shit." Axel carefully made her way through the corpses and tried to recognize their identities, ignoring their open throats. She chewed her lower lip when she saw familiar faces in them. She stumbled back, panting. "This is so messed up."

She inhaled sharply and sought for a wall to support her weight. She glanced at the bodies once more and closed her eyes tightly when she did not see Amirah, Adi, and Tamonjie in them.

"They're..." She wheezed. "They're still alive."

Her short thoughts of hope were interrupted when she suddenly heard monstrous groaning. Her eyes quickly landed on the corpses. Some of the bodies were shaking back and forth, their faces looking like haze. The nerves on their necks enlarged, and the vessels in them drained in color, then became blue. Every strand of their hair simultaneously fell out of their head, leaving their scalp bare.

"This better be not what I think it is," hissed Axel, pulling her katana out of its sheath, "because I'm totally fucked."

She slowly took a step back while the corpses were still in the middle of transforming. She then slammed the door shut when she finally exited the perilous scene, and quickly grabbed every single massive furniture present within the vicinity. She leaned her body against them and struggled to line them before the two huge doors of the conference room. She piled them up over each other, trapping the monsters on the other side.

Axel buried her horror under her consciousness and stared at her work. She sucked air in her lungs, her head formulating her next actions. "Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!" she grunted. "Doom is just a door away from us!"

She turned around and was about to sprint through the corridor when she saw a figure standing meters away from her in the shadows. Axel released a sigh of relief. "Right timing!" She approached her, lowering her guard down. "You may not believe me but man, I swear, I'm telling you the truth." She pointed the doors behind the furniture she piled up. "There are monsters inside that room! I don't know how long my blockage would hold on, but we need to get out of here. Now!"

Axel continued advancing towards her. "Hey, are you even listening—" Until she noticed that the figure was not moving an inch. She stopped on her tracks, stunned. A pair of eyes filled in dark miasma stared back at her like an abyss.

In a matter of seconds, the figure warped and appeared in front of Axel and poked the tip of the blade against her chest. Axel gasped when the woman she thought she knew supplied the force to thrust the blade inside her flesh, smashing her heart into pieces.

Blood flowed out of Axel's mouth as she reached for the person standing across her. "W-why...Y-you..."

The traitor hastily pulled out her blade out of Axel's body and the splashes of blood followed, painting the ground with crimson death. She fished out a clean cloth from her behind and wiped the stained parts of her dagger, looking down at Axel, who was gasping to death, with cold blank stares.

"The plan must not fail," said the traitor, averting her eyes to the scene like nothing happened. "We're a step closer to success now, brother."

***

The electronic dance music came rushing to Melanie's ears when she finally entered the Arena. She tugged her familiar, then advanced to the seats located at the third row. The arena was in the spotlight. Like a prism, its white floors bounced the moving colorful lights from the Fresnel lanterns, diffusing rays in the entire enclosed area.

Melanie fished out her pen and notebook and fixed her purple eyes on the raised platform when her professor in drag queen fashion climbed her way on it. She raised both of her hands, and shouted in the microphone for her opening remarks, spreading her energetic spirits to the atmosphere.

"Are you ready to have some fun?!" The booming screams and cheers of the crowd overflowed the zone. The professor continued, "Then, let's choose our first performers!"

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As usual, a man dressed in a suit delivered a cart with a huge fishbowl, consisting of each of the students' names in every rolled paper. The professor pulled the masked man closer to her and brushed her lips against his, intentionally smudging her bright red lipstick on his face. The action earned her divided reactions from the audience—disgusted or aroused. The kissing stopped with a lewd sticky sound, then the professor faced her students with a bright smile.

"Let's introduce the first star of the show!" She placed her hand inside the bowl and rummaged its contents. "The name of the star is..."

"Hey," said Melanie when someone stood beside her. She lifted her gaze and met those black dull eyes and white Grecian dress. "How did the meeting go?"

Adi's eyebrow lowered, and quickly grabbed Melanie's arm. "Something happened to Axel."

"What?" blurted out Melanie, shoving her things inside her skirts' pockets. She looked around and whispered. "Bring me to her! Where is she?"

"I can't tell you here!" exclaimed Adi. "Come quickly!"

Melanie let herself be dragged by Adi's grip around her arm, summoning her familiar back into her ring during the process. Her anxiety climbed from her spine to her head, an insane amount of possible dreadful scenarios drowning her thoughts like an old film. She bit her lower lip as her heart thumped loud inside her chest.

"Physical attacks won't affect Axel. I'm sure she can heal herself in that case." thought Melanie. "But what if...healing her wounds and changing her biology works differently? She exhausts her energy every time she uses her power. What if the damage was too much? Adi won't look so agitated if Axel can handle herself fine."

Melanie heaved a sigh and balled her fists. "Please, be okay, Axel," she whispered. She thought of the magic she learned weeks ago. If only Axel could wait for her, she would be able to heal her in no time. Melanie did not care whatever that spell would cost her in return. She would do anything to save her friend.

Melanie blinked and observed her surroundings. They were climbing down the spiral staircase, darkness embracing them. "Why are we going below?"

"The meeting was held in the Forbidden Book Depository."

"What? Isn't it prohibited to go here?"

Adi lit the torch at the end of the path, then ignited the lamp within her hands. She gazed at Melanie, blazing fire reflecting in her black eyes. "It's because of you."

Melanie was taken back. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm sure you already noticed their strange treatment towards you during classes," started Adi, gesturing to Melanie to continue travelling further down the tunnel. "You're a bearer, Melanie."

"Bearer? Me?" Melanie pointed to herself. "I don't even know what that is!"

"You'll see," mumbled Adi, blowing the flame in the lamp. Darkness chased them once again. "The books will tell you the truth."

"Hey, bring back the light!" cried Melanie.

A raucous vibrating sound filled the tunnel amidst the darkness, and the torches lit up one by one. Melanie stared at the huge library in front of them, containing thousands of shelves. Her companion caught her wrist and guided her inside, eager to show her something important.

"Why are we here, Adi?" asked Melanie, finally remembering the reason why they went there in the first place. "I thought we're here for Axel! Where is she?"

Adi released her grip on Melanie and remained silent. She approached the particular shelf in the farthest corner of the room and reached underneath it. Her hands caught a wooden chest covered with dust.

Adi coughed, flapping the dust away. She grabbed the key at the bottom and plunged it to the lock. Her lips formed a smirk when she heard a click. She opened it relentlessly and pulled the magical object inside it.

Melanie walked close to her and glanced by her shoulder. Her eyes widened. "That's...that's a really old book you have there."

"Adi! Melanie!"

The two jerked their heads back at the tunnel when two clashing voices called them out. Adi hid the book behind her Grecian dress while Melanie prepared herself from being reprimanded. However, instead of scolding, the two girls received warm hugs from Professor Marfori and Professor Razia's trembling hands.

"I'm glad both of you are okay," gasped Ms. Marfori.

"Me too. Thank you for really bringing her here, Adi," added Ms. Razia.

"Um, what is happening?" asked Melanie, awkwardly being squeezed by their bodies pressing together. "Can someone tell me what's going on? Please!"

The professors pulled away from the hug and looked at Adi. Adi sighed in response and revealed the book she was holding. She gave it to them, and they started muttering gibberish words towards it.

Melanie frowned. "What are they doing?" She glanced at Adi. "And where is Axel?!"

"There's much more significant things right now than Axel. I'm sorry I used her to lure you here in the library."

"So, you lied?"

"I did what I needed to do."

"You could just tell me that you wanted me to come here! I'll willingly go with you if this is really important."

"Girls," called Ms. Marfori and nodded at Adi, who quickly stepped back, disappearing in the shadows the moment the fire crackled.

"Melanie," said Ms. Razia. "You listen to your history classes, right?"

"Yes," replied Melanie with an obvious tone. "I always pay attention to your class."

The professors glanced at each other, then heaved a sigh. "Remember what we read in the diary? That the Sanctified filtered out the cursed ones and threw them to the outskirts?"

"Yes, I can remember that."

"Well, Melanie." The professors opened the book they were holding and revealed blank pages inside. However, seconds later and black and white images appeared in them, along with handwritten narratives.

"You see this?" the professor pointed to the drawing of the towering walls of the City. "They did not throw us out of there just because they wanted to stay pure, Melanie."

"Don't go in circles," asked Melanie. "What's the other reason?"

"It's because..." Professor Razia trailed off. She inhaled sharply. "The lemures were exiled along with us too."

"And they made sure that before those monsters get to them, we'll be doomed first," added Ms. Marfori.

"I can't believe this..." Melanie gasped. "But I didn't see one during my stay here!"

"That's because of the President's invincible barrier around the Damned community," answered Ms. Marfori. "It protected us from them."

"Protected? You're aware you're talking in past tense, right? Does that mean—"

"Yes," Ms. Razia nodded, bringing Melanie's nightmares into life. "There was someone w-who..." The professor stuttered, "...w-who attacked us from the inside."

"So, the barrier went down?!" exclaimed Melanie. "Then, what are we doing here? People in the outskirts might be turning already as we speak!"

"Yes, you're right. We can, somehow, hold them back and buy time for the President to make the barrier again."

"But she's nowhere to be found, and lemures don't die."

"What about other professors? They're strong! We also have powers. We can fight back!"

"They're...they're gone." Professor Marfori almost choked. "They're already one of them."

"What are we gonna do now?!" Melanie's voice almost cracked. "We can't just stand around here and wait for our end! What about the traitor? We cannot let them get away with this!"

"There's no use finding the traitor when a swarm of monsters already made their way to our territory."

"Then, what?!" Melanie gritted her teeth. "How can we solve this?"

Ms. Marfori opened the book once more and pointed to the image of a black and white drawing of a woman wearing a robe and a crown over her head. The crown was not glorious—it was not covered with diamonds and gems. Instead, it consisted of twisted vines and thorns.

Melanie gaped at the drawing. "Who is she?"

"Her name is Clementine," Ms. Razia gazed at Melanie. "She's the most powerful saint that the ancient people adored."

"I heard that name before." Melanie brushed the tips of her fingers on the paper where Clementine's face was engraved and felt warmth. A tingle of familiarity swelled inside her—a feeling that kindled her curiosity and desires to know more about the saint.

"She's living inside you, Melanie."

Melanie stiffened when she heard Ms. Razia's words. "P-pardon?"

"You're a bearer. She's the soul living inside of you at this very moment. You're our last hope of salvation. Let her take over, Melanie."

Melanie suddenly remembered the voices inside her head—tempting her to give in. She also recalled Alice, her familiar, who looked up to her like a God. Those instances were not figments of her imagination. A foreign being is living inside her, and people around her wanted to bring that ghost to life.

She pursed her lips and tears formed at the edge of her eyes. "What about me? What will happen to me if I let her do what she wanted? Did you become so nice to me because this is your intention all along?!"

"Melanie, please."

"We need to do this—"

Melanie's vision was filled with terror when the professors pleading in front of her were sliced in half. Blood sprayed in the air floor as their human flesh scattered like chunks of meat. Melanie stepped back and lifted her gaze, gasping at the killer.

"A-adi..."